TORONTO -- As international investigators have finally been granted access to flight data from Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752, a Toronto man who lost two loved ones in the crash hopes Iranian officials are held accountable.
On Jan. 8, two missiles from Iran鈥檚 Revolutionary Guard struck the Boeing 737-800, which killed all 176 people onboard, including 55 Canadians, 30 permanent residents and many others bound for Canada.
In a report issued earlier this month, Iran鈥檚 Civil Aviation Organization blamed the missile launch on a battery malfunction and a lack of communication within the Iranian military.
On Monday, Kathy Fox, chair of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, told 麻豆传媒 Channel that voice recorders from the plane鈥檚 cockpit were sent to Paris for extraction -- a process which is being observed by Canadian, Swedish, British and American air accident investigators, as well as corporate aviation officials.
Habib Haghjoo, who lost his daughter Saharnaz and his eight-year-old granddaughter Elsa in the crash, said he doesn鈥檛 trust the Iranian incident report and believes flight investigators in the country are to blame for a delay in sending the black boxes to France.
鈥淲e don't trust this regime at all,鈥� he told NewsNight by 麻豆传媒, available on the streaming app Quibi. 鈥淲e believe maybe they kept it (to see) if they can tamper with it or do something.鈥�
鈥淭he funny thing is the final analysis report is going to come -- and be given -- by Iran because they have the lead investigation. This is the thing that is torturing us. We don't trust them. They lie, they lie and they lie.鈥�
Haghjoo hopes that, following an investigation, the Iranian officials are taken to the International Court of Justice to answer to what happened back in January.
鈥淭hey have to be punished for it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey have to go there. Otherwise, there is no other way.鈥�
鈥淲e have to get the closure. We have to find out what is the truth.鈥�
Last month, Canadian families of the crash victims urged the Canadian government to take Iran to international court following delays in releasing the flight recorders.
Haghjoo said he and some of the other families have felt 鈥渄ead鈥� inside since the crash and have formed an association to make sure they stay strong together.
鈥淲e are not going to forget it,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are not going to forgive it and we are going to stand.鈥�
With files from CTVNews.ca鈥檚 Meredith MacLeod
